You know, I have a hard time answering this one. My top five, and I could never put them in any certain order, would be Breath of Fire III (lean towards it at #1),Legend of Legaia (popped my RPG cherry), FF7 no explanation needed, Thousand Arms (cracks me up), and Lunar (Old school awesome.) Soooo many more but I tried.

You know why this isYou know why this is a difficult list to craft? Because I feel like my favorites are always sort of shifting in a flux congruent with my current tastes... Some things I swore I loved I'll never play again, other things I thought I I'd never pick up turned out to some of my favorites later on down the road.... So with that said, this is a brief list of the ones that I'm sure make the cut of my hall of fame... But don't ask for a particular order... I just can't do it :)

-Lunar 1 and 2 (SCD)-- First RPG I ever played with alot of the next gen. elements we didn't see at the time... NOTE: The PSX version are also favorites of mine for some of my favorite dungeons in RPG history and most intense boss fights.-Shining Wisdom (SS)-- I can't give specifics but as a kid I freakin' loved this game... haven't played it in ages though-Growlanser Heritage of War (both included titles, PS2)--- Dripping with anime esque' goodness-Breath of Fire 2 (Snes)--- None of the others captivated me quite like this one-Chrono Trigger (SNES)-- I know its on everyones list, as well it should be...-Secret of Mana and Seiken Densetsu 3(SNES)-- Best multiplayer action RPGs I've ever beheld, hands down.-X-Com: Ufo Defense(PSX)- One of the only non-fantasy oriented titles that make my list. Creepy as hell. Difficult as hell. Engaging and rewarding as all heck. If it weren't for the bad controller interface I'd probably have enjoyed it alot more though....-Disgaea (PSX, NOT the PSP version.....)-- The first Disgaea may not have been the best but its still my favorite.... why you ask? Laharl and Etna of course :)-Star Ocean 2 Second Story and Star Ocean Til the end of time (psx and ps2)--My favorites of the star ocean series for the character casts and gameplay-Persona 3(Ps2)--Dripping with J-Pop culture goodness, and I dug the story here more the 4... maybe its just me...-Final Fantasy VI (III)-- It may not have done everything the best.... but it certainly set the stage in my oppinion for the groundwork of all the Final Fantasies to come, while perfecting many elements inherent in the series up to this title. Its pertenance to the series aside, I also feel it had the best cast, most coherrent story, best paced plot of the whole series. -Suikoden V(PS2)-- Basically because it had my favorite cast of all the Suiko. titles...

Well thats my list(s) off the top of my head.... But I'm sure I missed quite a few worth mentioning that have slipped to the far recesses of my mind over the years... then again, maybe that means they aren't worth mentioning...?

This was my first RPG. I remember beating this game 100% and spending a solid 70 hours exploring everything. It still remains, in my opinion, the best of the series.

Lunar: SSSC

This is the first game where I really fell in love with the genre. Everything was so well done. The combat, for all of it's simplicity, was fast-paced enough to keep things interesting. The characters, while cliche, were charming. The anime cut scenes heightened important moments of drama, and the world did feel fully realized.

Pokemon White

I got addicted to this game pretty badly earlier this year. Since it came out, I've clocked over 240 hours on this title. At this point, I'm done. I'm only missing one or two Pokemon from this generation, but I'm not in any hurry to get them now. I have a few competitive teams (I'm in the lead in the PA tournament) and pretty much every important item there is to get.

Chrono Trigger

I never got to experience the SNES, but I can still appreciate what many consider the golden age of RPGs. The DS port of this game is flawless. The added cut scenes, while not necessary, do make some of the drama more exciting. The combat is lightning fast. The characters, paper thin they may be, do have enough personality to hold this fun romp through time together. This might be my favorite Square offering due to how simple and elegant it is.

Logged

Thoren: Astronomers fucking love stars and shit. Whitman was a bitch.Hidoshi: Walt Whitman could beat you with both dicks tied behind his back.

Outside of RPGs, my gold standards for visual novels are Ever17: The Out of Infinity (still my favorite video game of all time) and Hourglass of Summer (still my favorite love adventure of all time.) Those were the first games I gave Editor's Choice badges to, and I rarely give those out. I think my reviews say why I think those games are great and stick with me like peanut butter to the roof of my soul's mouth.

So I just took my normal Top 10 games list and filtered out the 4 non-RPGs (If you're wondering, it's Portal 2, Zelda: The Wind Waker, Zelda: Majora's Mask, and Zelda: A Link to the Past) and ended up with 10 favorite RPGs (The math behind it is too complex to explain). The list is in descending order so that the farther it is from the bottom the less I like it.

10) Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories

I'm going to say this right now: I absolutely HATE this game. The battles were the most repetitive, annoying, and broken thing I've ever played t completion and exploring each world wasn't much better. But the story is perfect in my opinion. It followed up the first Kingdom Hearts wonderfully and bridged into the next game (which also happens to be one of my least favorite games) perfectly. The story kept me going long past when the gameplay got stale. I have to take a hat off to any game that can convince me to keep playing when I just can't stand playing it.

9) Eternal Sonata

For a game with a wonderful battle system, beautiful aesthetic, even better music, and a phenomenal story that had me shaking at the end this was not a well done game. The only reason this game hasn't cracked into my top 3 is because each battle starts to feel the same really quickly and they don't stop being the same until a boss comes along and shakes things up. Then it's all the same again.

8) Dragon Quest IX

I feel horrible for putting this all the way back here. It's the first game in my top 10 that was great in all areas, but it just never clicked with me all the way. I may have 50 hours (and counting) on it, but I just can't seem to say that I enjoyed it more than so many other games. Fun Fact: You can replace this title with Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light and it would still be the same explanation.

7) Kingdom Hearts

We return to the rough games now. This game had some great audiovisual elements going for it and it even had a pretty good story to boot (I'm a sucker for stories about the power of friendship), but the way each world was built didn't feel too professional. It seemed like it was trying to trick you into believing that these small levels were actually very large with lots of hidden items (there really weren't many hidden items) and that just kind of killed the maps for me. What made it worse was the enemy placement. Sometimes it was great, but a lot of the time I just had to pause the game for a few minutes and wonder who thought it was a good idea to put a flying enemy immune to magic next to a staircase with no railings. I still liked this more than all the other Kingdom Hearts games though. It managed to bring all of its elements (good ad bad) together into one package that was fun and touching.

6) Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey

Being the only non-Persona SMT title I've played to (near) completion, this game holds a special place in my heart. The long, maze-like dungeons that use themselves as puzzles are what dragged me into the experience, the bizarre story is what kept me going, the battles kept me on my toes, and the sidequests fleshed out the world in unique ways. It's obvious that it was dumbed down for the DS, but the elements that have made people love SMT games for so long are what keep this game great.

5) Knights in the Nightmare

I fell in love with the story of Riviera: The Promised Land and found the battles in Yggdra Union: We'll Never Fight Alone to be some of the best a SRPG has presented to me, but Knights in the Nightmare managed to bring the elements that made me love both together into one game. The game had a wonderful story that wove many layers of politics and deception together with the supernatural to create something unique out of what had been done many times before. The battles may come off as too complex for their own good to some, but the combination of turn-based strategy, real-time strategy, and bullet hell made for an exhilarating experience that really stretched my ability to think strategically in a way I never would have before. The bosses usually were too difficult for their own good, but all the small (and large) blips in the game don't really damage a unique and fun game.

4) Radiant Historia

Radiant Historia may not be a very unique game, but it takes what's been done before and makes it better. The time travel plot is done differently than most other stories and it really makes you wonder just how thin the walls between worlds are. The battles play like an updated version of FFX's, but the ability to change the turn order by whim and the 3x3 grid the enemies stand on make each battle a strategic showdown between you and the many monsters you will be facing. Even if many of the things it does has been done before, the way Radiant Historia does it makes you care more about the world, the characters, and the battles.

3) Nier

This is one game I can't defend against people who hate it. It has a magnificent story with the best OST I've ever heard, but the actual gameplay is little more than mediocre. It tries to do so much and usually fails to do anything but make you feel. The story and music combine to make a very moving experience, but the gameplay mars it down at a number 5 on this list.

2) Persona 4

This game managed to take what I loved most about Strange Journey (large dungeons to crawl in; fun battles that take a simple idea and make something complex with it) and many of the other games on this list (a story that has been done many times before in other ways, but manages to be unique with its own merits) and put it together in one game that seemed perfectly made for a teenager without all the angst usually coupled with such a story (I'm looking at you, Kingdom Hearts 2). What really set it apart for me is the believable way in which each character overcomes their own problems to try and become a better person by the end of the game.

1) The World Ends With You

This game has managed to leave an imprint on me that won't leave. The story, the characters, and the so-close-to-familiar-but-just-a-bit-off setting left me wanting more after each and every day in the game and all of the little things this game does to make battles fun really make it something that has yet to be replicated by any other game. Here's to hoping for a sequel sometime soon!

And those are Jubby's 10 favorite RPGs. I'm sure this list will be completely different next semester when I start my indie game spree.

Finally decided to join the forum after having been playing rpgs for quite a number of years and finishing more then I'd like to admit. I don't know how so many people find it easy to successfully order their favorites. this causes too much internal debate and numerous self arguments, the sort of which that may end with you visiting the self preservation "rubber rooms" so Ill list some favorites and let everyone else try to figure out the correct order Lol

Baldur's Gate Saga (I,ToSC,II,ToB) [PC] - A totally epic span of awesomeness, old style dungeons and dragons that told a totally epic story, the only way this game could have been better is if they had more of the popular forgotten realms characters from the books.

Suikoden II - For all the reasons allready mentioned this is an amazing game.

Persona 3 FES - This game changed the way I looked at JRPGs and Rpgs in general, great music, great cast, great story, great combat system, could relate to the characters and setting.

Kouledka/Shadow Hearts I & Shadow Hearts II - This is perfection as well, a complete story with twisted villians, great heroes, and fantastic music.

Final Fantasy Tactics - The War of the Lions - The refreshing FFT re-release on the PSP was nothing short of incredible. even with the slight slowdowns during the battles.

Dragon Quest VIII - Journey of the Cursed King - The legendary Dragon quest in beautiful cell-shaded graphics, a nice change of pace story that pays tribute to all of the dragon quest games before it, really nice voice acting, good music and epic length make this game an all time great.

Secret of Mana - One of the first "Multiplayer" Rpgs this is a great game, and music wise absolutely legendary.

Chrono Trigger - If you don't know why this game is here, you have lived under a rock for 20 years.

Fallout 3 - This game while not traditional by any sence of the means, gave me a realistic feel of what nuclear holocaust could be like, and I enjoyed all aspects of it

Dragon Force - This was a wonderful, little played Strategy rpg for the Sega Saturn, and its a masterpiece. probablly the best release for the system (along with Skies of Arcadia)

There are so many others that deserve mentioning, so I'll add a few of them as a catchall

I don't know how so many people find it easy to successfully order their favorites. this causes too much internal debate and numerous self arguments, the sort of which that may end with you visiting the self preservation "rubber rooms"

I think we all just made it look easy through the power of the Internet.

I don't know how so many people find it easy to successfully order their favorites. this causes too much internal debate and numerous self arguments, the sort of which that may end with you visiting the self preservation "rubber rooms"

I think we all just made it look easy through the power of the Internet.

Other than a few cases, it's really easy for me. I know what I enjoyed more and what I enjoyed less. That and I review them in my head as I play, so I can always look back at those reviews for reference to how much I enjoyed it.

Wow, we have some really nice lists here. My top favorite RPGs would be the following:

Chrono Trigger: I remember buying this when it was originally released back in the 90s for the Super Nintendo. I had a Nintendo Power magazine and I was captivated by the article on it. I rented it from my local Blockbuster and then purchased it shortly thereafter. Here is some trivia for you...I bought it from Babbages. Anyone remember that store? Yep, Babbages turned into Gamestop. :) Anyway, this remains my favorite RPG.

Final Fantasy 4: Again, I played this back in elementary school when it was originally released. My best friend got it for this birthday and we all came over to check it out. This game was amazing and the story just always stuck with me. It remains one of my favorites. I still want to play the Complete Collection for the PSP although I don't actually own the system. Getting this game though almost justifies buying a PSP.

Chrono Cross: I actually loved the sequel to the original. I thought it was, for the most part, well executed. If I could change two things about it, I would have loved less playable characters and more story elements with Magus. I think they could have done a lot with him but...eh, hopefully one day a third game will come....I'll have to keep crossing my fingers. Anyway, even without my prefered changes, the game was really awesome for its music, gameplay, and story. Plus, I liked how they played the nostalgia card for some parts of the story.

Legend of Legaia: Great game. I really liked how they included martial arts with the RPG elements. The music was incredible in this game too. It really got me pumped up for the fights. I would like to see them make a third game for like the original.

Final Fantasy Tactics: This rivals Final Fantasy 4 for the best Final Fantasy in my opinion. I played hundreds of hours in this game. I liked the mature themes and how battles were never the same. I haven't played the War of the Lions version yet because of the dreaded slow down problems I've heard about, but then again, I guess the PS1 version had horrible loading times for some of the text/translation issues.

Vagrant Story: This was a very dark game, but I enjoyed the midevil aspects of the story. They really should make some kind of sequel. I an anxious to see what Yasumi Matsuno produces at Level 5.

Final Fantasy 6: Although not my favorite Final Fantasy, this game holds my favorite villian - Kefka. Square needs to move forward with a remake or sequel/prequel with this game.

Zelda - A link to the Past: Yes, I know this probably doesn't fit here but it needs to be mentioned. I love this game. The music, story, and gameplay are fond memories of my childhood. All the Zelda games are great, but this one is my favorite out of them all...followed by a close second - Zelda 64.